ALASTAIR + LALEINIA

It has to be said, that Shanghai by night was probably one of the coolest things that either of us had ever seen! It was the perfect way to end our China adventure. Hopefully we will go back to Shanghai one day, hopefully sooner rather than later.  Goodbye China. We will miss you!

We hate to say it, but our China adventure is coming to an end. Unfortunately, school and normal life beckons, and it is time to return to Idaho. It was really hard to say goodbye to our students and friends in Luoyang, but a few days in Shanghai would help to soften the blow.   So off we went to the Paris of the East. We love China. Every city that we have visited has really been enjoyable, but it has to be said, Shanghai is something else. Maybe it was the great shopping, or the amazing lights and buildings everywhere. Maybe it was 19,000,000 people just going about their lives, or the multitude of tourists like us who were also in awe. With the help of a free map at the airport and our trusty Lonely Planet book, we figured out how to get from the Hongqiao airport to our hostel, which we found in possibly the best location possible. It seemed like it was just a short walk to everywhere, so that was nice. In our short three days here, we took a few places to heart. ...

By far, last night was one of the greatest nights we’ve had in China. The school treated us to a going away/Christmas dinner. We went to Golden Hans, a Brazilian style buffet.   Chinese women were dressed in German attire serving German beers (not for us) while the men walked by every table offering different meats on Brazilian style skewers. Culturally confusing but nonetheless delicious.   After we stuffed ourselves with delicious barbecue, we headed to 88 Bar (pronounced Ba Ba Ba) to do some karaoke. Alastair and I have wanted to do karaoke for quite some time, and tonight our moment had finally arrived. Karaoke bars can run from 100 Yuan per hour or up to 2,000 Yuan per hour. The place the school chose was definitely on the high end. Our group had our own private karaoke room filled with fruit and colas and our own waitress who would clap after every performance. The room was decorated with every shiny thing they could get their hands on. There were tambourin...

It might not be so hard to see Alastair, but see how fast you can find Laleinia in this picture! Haha. Lain teaches half of these children, and Alastair teaches the other half. Once a week, each of us reads some small phrases that they repeat, as part of their exercises. All of these kids, apart from maybe five or six, love Justin Bieber. That is the only problem that we have with these great kids!

This week, one of the teachers that we work with (Annie) asked us if we would be willing to help some of her friends make a promotional video on Saturday. We agreed that we would do it because we already missed out on an opportunity similar to this a while back. On Saturday, we met up with Annie and took a taxi to the main part of the city. We ended up at a dance studio. When we arrived, there were girls warming up to dance. Alastair and I shared a glance that pretty much said "Oh no, are we going to be in a music video?" Apparently, the owners of the dance studio also are a multimedia company. They explained that they were going to shoot a video at a nursing home to promote a non-profit organization that asks the youth of China to volunteer at nursing homes.  It was a good cause that I absolutely agree with (I took care of my grandparents) and so we were more that happy to help out. All we had to do was ask people questions about their experience in the nursing home and m...

Our time in Luoyang is coming to an end very soon, and we have been doing our best to make the most of what time is left. We have been exploring the city more, and are loving what we have found. Here are some of our recent favorite places to go... TimeBar We have been frequenting a Western bar recently with our friend Larry, to enjoy the western music, live music from Laura (Chinese lady with English name), play Slapjack, Farkel, and enjoy a refreshing soda. Since neither we or Larry drink, it has been fun to talk to people like Laura, people watch, and just be outside of the apartment. Luoyang Museum We recently went to the Luoyang museum, a really huge building with loads of old artifacts. Not sure if we have mentioned this before, but Luoyang has been the capital city of China on numerous occasions, and so there was a lot of cool stuff to see, including pottery and somehow an elephant skeleton! Guan Lin Market Guan Lin market is a huge, part indoor part out...